


Best Last Minute Gifts for Loved Ones

by sopheelia



Category: Star Wars Episode VII: The Force Awakens (2015)
Genre: Alternate Universe - Modern Setting, Christmas, F/M
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2017-12-23
Updated: 2017-12-23
Packaged: 2019-02-19 06:28:23
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 2
Words: 2,199
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/13117974
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/sopheelia/pseuds/sopheelia
Summary: Ben Solo forgot to get a Christmas present for Leia, and has to go out on Christmas morning to find one for her. Little does he know, he might find something (or someone) else as well.





	1. Chapter 1

**Author's Note:**

> this is my first fic! and my first reylo fic. oh boy. definitely comment some constructive criticism and tell me how i can improve!! this is probably only going to be about two or three chapters. thank you for reading!

“Shit. Fuck. Shit.” Ben cursed as he slammed the door shut to his apartment, and then patted the door awkwardly as if apologizing to the door for slamming it so hard. He only swore in situations in which he fucked up. This was one of those situations. It was Christmas morning, and he forgot to get his mother a present. 

In this moment, he also remembered that he didn’t have a car, and couldn’t even drive. He scrambled to get his phone out of his coat pocket and slammed his finger down onto the uber app icon. He arranged for a car to come as soon as possible to come and take him to the mall. 

Ben didn’t even know what his mom wanted for Christmas. Ben didn’t even know if his mom wanted anything for Christmas. Maybe she wanted something that moms usually want. What did moms want for Christmas? Like, pajamas? No, that would be insinuating that she’s lazy, which is the opposite of her, she’s a very hardworking woman. Or it could insinuate that she sleeps, which she very much does. Ben heard a tiny ding from his phone. His uber driver had arrived directly in front of him while he scowled into the air in front of him, desperately trying to figure out what to get for his mom. 

Ben awkwardly climbed into the backseat of the uber and his long legs pressed up against the seat ahead of him. 

“Merry Christmas! The mall, right?” The uber driver spoke through a thick southern accent. He had a beard and mustache that was comparable to Santa himself, and made Ben wonder if he could pull off facial hair like that. 

“Yes, thank you.” Ben said in return. His gaze returned back to the his phone screen. He was frantically looking for articles about last minute presents for loved ones. 

Ben must have looked pretty stressed, because the driver spoke up. 

“Rough mornin?” He said, through that same southern drawl. 

“Something like that.” Ben replied. He wasn’t really in the mood for conversation. He was in the mood to find a damn present for his mother. 

“Got any plans for Christmas?” The southern drawl said again, much to Ben’s dismay.

“I’m spending it with loved ones.” Ben didn’t mean to spit out this answer, but that’s the way it came out. 

“Loved ones, huh? Your wife and kids then?” 

Ben was not about to be lectured for not having kids at this point in his life. Or for not having a wife. Or a fiancée. Or a girlfriend for that matter. Ben hadn’t ever been in a serious relationship, and he was living his best life as a bachelor, so why change everything now? He was working for his own company and everything was going well for him. Why try to interfere with those things by adding someone else into his life? 

“I’m spending it with my mother. I’m not married, but I do have a very successful business.” Ben grumbled. He then realized how utterly pathetic he sounded and cringed at himself, thankful for the fact that the driver was looking at the road, and not at his pained expression. 

“Business is good! But marriage is better. My wife and I have been married 28 years, and I couldn’t let her go if I tried. Marriage changes you son, go out and get the Christmas miracle of love!” The man laughed as he looked back at Ben. 

Uber Santa sounded like a damn Hallmark movie. Ben laughed awkwardly in return. He couldn’t wait for this festively annoying car ride to be over.


	2. Chapter 2

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> A monogrammed necklace, and a store clerk who makes Ben think that maybe Uber Santa was right after all.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> it’s done! thank you for anyone reading this, and i hope you enjoy this short little cutesy fic!

The rest of the car ride was mostly silent, except for Uber Santa singing along to the Christmas songs on the radio that he started playing once the conversation between him and Ben slowed. Just as the conversation did, the car slowly halted to a stop. The mall sign glistened above the doors ahead, with tinsel shaping each of the letters in the word, ‘mall.’ Although Ben didn’t appreciate Christmas as much as some did (Uber Santa), he could admit that it was a truly beautiful time of year. 

“Have a nice day son, and remember. Life isn’t all about working. Let yourself have some fun once in a while.” The driver said as Ben left the vehicle. Ben, as politely as he could, thanked the driver. Ben was fuming as he walked away from the car. How could he assume that he wasn’t having fun just because he mentioned in passing that he was focusing on his business instead of love? Ben could have fun! 

Ben’s walking slowed as he paused before the mall doors. Maybe Uber Santa was right. Maybe he wasn’t having enough fun in his life. Maybe he did need to try to find somebody. 

He shook the thought from his head, and started focusing on what really mattered. Getting his mom the present. He walked through the mall doors and immediately smelled the extreme and quite delicious fragrances of Cinnabon. He forced himself to keep walking forward and not stop at the Cinnabon counter, even though those tasty buns were calling his name. 

Ben looked down at his phone to look at the articles he was going over in the car. One of the articles said that the best last minute gift for a loved one was something that’s convenient to buy, yet sentimental. Ben could handle that. Then, it struck him. He knew what he would get that was sentimental, yet quick to get. It might make his mother cry, but she would love the gift. Absolutely love it. 

He walked over to a store called, ‘Mollie’s Monograming Machine.’ They should have what he needed, even if they did have some pretty horrific alliteration in their name. Inside the shop were tons of bright colors. Everywhere. The contrast between Ben’s black jacket and pants and the room was quite intense. Neon pinks and greens littered the room, and strained Ben’s eyes a bit. Then, out of the corner of his eye, he saw a necklace, that had a tiny metal rectangle in the very middle of it. Perfect. 

“Can you guys monogram these metal necklaces?” Ben said while looking down at the necklace. Maybe it was better this way, that he was getting this gift for her. Sure, it was completely last minute, but it meant something. To him, and her. 

He slid the necklace forward onto the counter towards the cashier and then looked up at her. 

To say the least, she was gorgeous.   
Utterly gorgeous. 

Her hair was pulled back into a messy sort of bun, but some strands of hair had fallen out of it, and were now framing her face in a way where she looked even more so like art. Her eyes, a beautiful hazel, with a brilliant green on the outer ring, and then a dark amber brown on the inside. 

Ben then realized he was staring and pulled himself back to reality, but still took the time to appreciate the woman’s aesthetics. 

“Yes, we do. We do three letter engravings, and can put it into a gift box as well.” The woman said with a slight British accent. 

For some reason, that made Ben even more pulled to her. Why was a young British woman all the way over here in America working in a monogramming shop at a mall? He felt himself trying to make a backstory for her. 

“Great. Can you do the name Han? They’re not, uh, initials, but it’s three letters and since you guys usually do three letters I figured it would be fine because it’s also three letters.” Ben stopped himself before he could ramble any further. God, he was rambling. Ben prided himself on being an eloquent speaker and here he was, stumbling and rambling in front of a cashier. 

She giggled slightly at Ben’s ramblings, which made his face flush. It should be illegal for one’s laugh to be that cute.

“We can do that. It’s going to be about ten minutes though, is that alright?” She asked, tilting her head a bit. 

“That’s totally fine. I’ll uh, just wait here for it to be done. Thank you...” He searched for a name tag on her uniform. “Rey. Thank you Rey. That’s a beautiful name.” He said without thinking. Well, that was what he was thinking, but he didn’t mean to blurt it out so quickly like that!

“Oh, thank you!” Rey said in return. She seemed to have a small redness growing across her cheeks as well. Shiiiiit. Ben had to keep this rolling. Maybe she found his awkward rambling endearing? Or she was just being nice and she’s embarrassed that this random man in dark clothes is vaguely flirting with her. 

Rey then went to the back room to start having someone make Ben’s order, so he took advantage of this time to make sure his hair looked alright. 

God. He was worried about his hair looking good for someone. He didn’t even know anything about her! She could be a murderer for all he knew! She was a murderer to escaped from England to America and is now living a life as Rey, the monogramming clerk. 

She came back, and Ben went back to acting like he was nonchalantly standing there, totally not waiting for her to come back or anything, and totally not fixing his mess of black curls while she was gone. 

“Could I ask a nosy question?” Rey quickly asked, not exactly looking at Ben. Oh no. She was going to ask him if he was flirting, and she’s going to be totally weirded out, and it’s going to be terrible. He found himself nodding nervously, preparing himself for his tiny crush on the monogramming clerk to be crushed. 

“Who’s Han? I know I shouldn’t really ask, but usually everyone who comes in here is a girl using her parents money to get something monogrammed for their prep school.” 

Ben was relieved that she didn’t outright reject him and ask why he was trying to flirt with her. Ben was alarmed at hearing his name out loud. Han. 

“I’m sorry, I shouldn’t have asked-“ She must have seen the look on Ben’s face. Guilt. 

“Nono, it’s fine,” Ben interrupted. “Han is my father. I’m getting my mother a necklace with his name on it. He passed away a year ago, and I want her to be able to keep him with her wherever she goes. I don’t even know if she’s going to like it though. I mean, it is me who’s partly responsible for his death, I was driving the car we were in, and then everything happened so fast- oh god. I’m sorry. I shouldn’t have said that much, I’m... just going to sit down in the chairs over there.”   
He didn’t mean to say all of that. The words just kept happening and happening and he couldn’t stop it until it was too late. Ben didn’t understand why he was acting like this. Why he was unloading a portion of his life he had barely told anyone into a clerk who he though was cute. He started to walk towards the chairs in the corner of the store, obviously meant for the customers to sit in while waiting for their shirts to be monogrammed.

“Wait.” Rey said, almost a little bit too forcefully. Ben turned around, not trying to look her into the eyes. He was way, too embarrassed. She was probably just going to say how sorry she was for his loss. That’s the reaction he usually got from the few people he told. 

“I understand. My parents put me up for adoption a long, long time ago. I never really knew who they were, but I’ve been grieving the loss of them my entire life. I know what it’s like to lose someone, but the pain goes away someday. It has to.” She said this almost hesitantly. Like it was something she had been meaning to say for a long time. Something she had been meaning to say to herself. But never had. 

Ben blinked. He never thought that this pain could possibly end. He never thought that his guilt he felt for the death of his father could end. But, because of Rey, the monogramming clerk, maybe it could. 

“Rey, I want to get to know you better.” Those were the only words Ben could get to leave his mouth. “I’ve never met someone who understands what I’ve been feeling for the past year.”

Rey smiled, wrote down her number on a tiny piece of paper, with a tiny little smiley face in the corner of the paper. A man came out of the back room, and handed Rey a box with the necklace that had ‘Han’ monogrammed on the tiny rectangular box. 

Ben paid for the box, and slipped the little piece of paper into his pocket. 

“Until next time, Rey. Merry Christmas, and thank you.” Ben said, and left the store. 

Ben couldn’t believe it, but maybe that cheesy ‘Christmas miracle of love’ was going to happen after all.


End file.
